The Legacy of Quakers

Dear Friends,

It has been my pleasure to be this week’s guest editor for the Daily Quaker Message. 

I was inspired to create this week’s messages after receiving a wealth of positive responses from my Fall 2024 sermon series Speak Truth to Power: The Legacy of Quakers at Indianapolis First Friends Meeting. 

In that series, as in these messages, my hope was threefold: 1) introduce people to some of my favorite Friends, 2) apply their words and lives to our current condition, and 3) inspire people to find their voice to Speak Truth to Power, today. 

My hope was also to help people who were wrestling with how they could respond positively to the political climate in the United States. Each of the messages this week challenged us to think, engage, and hopefully dialogue with our Friends and neighbors to make a better world. 

As an artist, I find that art helps both inspire and captivate one’s attention. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing a piece of my art in each of the messages this week. Some may be familiar as they have appeared in publications such as Friends Journal and Quaker Life. Others have been used to promote American Friends Service Committee events, while still others have never been shared. I hope they have helped you focus your attention on our Friends and their words. 

If you would like to learn more, I would encourage you to listen to my Speak Truth to Power: The Legacy of Quakers sermon series on our YouTube channel (@FirstFriends) or our podcast Light Reflections from Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting on most podcast platforms.  If you would like to check out more of my art, you can find it on Facebook at RSH Expressions. 

Remember to find a way to speak your truth to power, today! 

Grace and peace, 

Bob Henry
Pastor, Indianapolis First Friends Meeting

Reader Responses

What does “speaking truth to power” mean to you?

What is your responsibility to speak truth to power as an individual? As part of a faith community?

Especially today the importance of speaking the truth to power is of utmost concern! We must not be silent. Our lives and democracy are at stake. It is critical to take a stand not only for ourselves and our rights as God’s people, but all that are being targeted as well.

Sue H., Fishers, IN, USA
The phrase "speaking truth to power" has always bothered me, because it presumes that we have the truth, and because it "others" those in power.. I prefer something like, "Engage in dialog with those in power."

Joe O., Paw Paw, MI, USA
Seeing Bob Henry's images this week makes we want to share the above photo. This is the first mural painted on the wall at the office of the Friends Guatemala Scholarship Program (PROGRESA); designed and executed by a student of the program. The program has been opening doors for indigenous Mayan Guatemalans for over 50 years, many of whom are now speaking truth to power in ways that are inspiring.

Joseph S., Portland, OR, USA

This Week’s Messages

Mon Feb 24

Find the Way to Love

“What have we left to protect if in the process of defending our freedom we give up both democracy and principle? How can we love God, whom we have not seen, if we cannot, in times of crisis, find the way to love our brothers whom we have seen?” …
Tue Feb 25

That These May Be Exalted

“…We are not for Names, nor Men, nor Titles of Government, nor are we for this Party, nor against the other, because of its Name and Pretense; but we are for Justice and Mercy, and Truth and Peace, and true Freedom, that these may be exalted in our Nation; and that Goodness, Righteousness, Meekness, Temperance, Peace and Unity with God, and one with another, that these things may abound…such a Government are we seeking and waiting for, wherein Truth and Righteousness, Mercy and Justice, Unity and Love, and all the Fruits of Holiness may abound; and the contrary be removed, cast out, and limited.” …
Wed Feb 26

Power that Speaks in Women

“Those that speak against the Power of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord speaking in a woman, simply, by reason of her Sex, or because she is a Woman, not regarding the Seed, and Spirit, and Power that speaks in her; such speak against Christ, and his Church, and are of the Seed of the Serpent, wherein lodgeth the enmity.” …
Thu Feb 27

The Vital Message of Quakerism

“We attend meetings to escape the agonies of an unjust society and to find personal refuge among like-minded Friends. Because our hearts are not stirred or our minds made sensitive to the injustices of the communities in which we live, we accommodate ourselves to a whole system of personal and group relationships in our neighborhoods and places of business—a system that has served to reinforce the assumption of white superiority. This way of life denies that there is that of God in every man, the vital message of Quakerism that provides the basis for the “blessed community” in which everyone can achieve freedom from want and fear and can realize his full potential as a human being.” …
Fri Feb 28

Protecting Refugees

“There is no question that faith communities will continue to provide sanctuary whenever refugees need protection from government officials, that many of these communities consider sanctuary to be an essential part of what it means for the church to be the church…” …
Sat Mar 01

Stand Still in the Light

“The first step of peace is to stand still in the light (which discovers things contrary to it) for power and strength to stand against that nature which the light discovers: here grace grows, here is God alone glorified and exalted.” …

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Author

  • Bob Henry serves as pastor at First Friends Quaker Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. He lives in Fishers, Indiana with his wife and three boys. Bob is an artist who enjoys expressing his faith through drawing, painting, writing, preaching, and being faithfully present in his neighborhood and faith community.

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